1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a mobile device, and more particularly to a hinge assembly which allows a display unit to slide and swing on a body and a mobile device having the same.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the present specification, a tablet computer will be described as an example of a mobile device. However, the present invention is not limited to the tablet computer, but can be applied to all kinds of mobile devices. For example, the present invention may be applied to a laptop computer, a portable communication terminal, PDA, etc.
Generally, a tablet computer includes a body having a keyboard on the upper surface thereof and a display unit connected to the body by means of hinge assemblies. The display unit has a liquid crystal display panel to display images. The display unit may be used while being folded on the upper surface of the body or being inclined at a desired angle against the body. Swivel hinge assemblies are used in order to operate the display unit with respect to the body.
However, the tablet computer according to the conventional art as described above has following problems.
The tablet computer is used in the state where a display unit is folded down or inclined at a desired angle against the body. The tablet computer has a relative difficulty in that the display unit rotates with respect to the body in the above-mentioned state. Specifically, it is inconvenient to rotate the display unit to an angle of 180 degrees with respect to the body and to fold the display unit so that the back surface of the display unit makes close contact with the upper surface of the body.
Furthermore, in a case where conventional swivel hinge assemblies are used, the front, the back, the left and the right positions of the display unit change between when the display unit is inclined and when the display unit is folded on the body portion. Specifically, according to the conventional art, when the mode of the display unit is converted, the front, the back, the left and the right positions of the display unit are reversed with respect to the body. Accordingly, when a user views the contents of information displayed on the display unit, the contents can be reversed in the front, the back, the left and the right of the display unit. Of course, the direction of images displayed on the display unit may be changed according to the mode of the display unit. Otherwise, there is inconvenience that the displaying direction of the display unit is changed using a separate sensor and software.